Clothes pressing machine



May 30, 1939. l. BURNSTEIN CLOTHES 'PRESSING MACHINE Filed March 25, 1937 ,3? INVENTOR 2M: W BY W ATTORNEYS Patented May 30, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,160,013 CLOTHES PRESSING MACHINE Isaac Burnstein, Buffalo, N. Y. Application March 23, 1937, Serial No. 132,539

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a clothes pressing machine, and more particularly to that type of machine in which the garment being pressed is laid upon a lower buckboard, and an upper buckboard then swung down upon the upper face of the garment, both of said buckboards being continuously steam heated and additionally provided on their operating surfaces with a screened or other porous surface through which live steam may be passed directly against and into the adjacent face of the garment being pressed.

The primary object of the invention is to permit of a garment, or a portion of a garment, being pressed at either end of the pressing machine, and with live steam passed directly against the one face of the garment, but with the area through which said live steam is ejected arranged to be of such a limited area that an undue amount of live steam is not ejected at points situated beyond the garment. This primary or general object may be divided into the following subsidiary objects of the invention:

To prevent the unnecessary waste of steam;

To reduce the amount of feed water which is required to maintain the water level in the boiler which produces the steam;

To reduce the humidity of the room in which the operator of the machine is employed, this factor being particularly important invsummertime when the atmosphere is frequently already too warm and humid for human comfort;

To permit the operator to work close to the pressing machine without having to be subjected to heavy and unnecessary blasts of hot steam;

To reduce the wetting of whatever part of the lower buckboard which happens to not be covered by the garment at the moment, and, concomitantly to reduce the time and cost necessary to dry this area;

To render the successive pressing operations more uniform in character; and

To enable the garments which have already been pressed to dry at a more rapid rate of speed while hanging in the room in which the pressing machine is located.

Numerous other objects of the invention and practical solutions thereof are disclosed in detail in the herein patent specification and drawing, wherein:

, Fig. 1 is a diminutive front elevation of a clothes pressing machine provided with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a'fragmentary, vertical, longitudinal section through the upper and lower buckboards thereof.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the upper buckboard, looking up.

Fig. 4. is a fragmentary, vertical, transverse section through the on line 4-4, Fig. 2.

steam valve apparatus, taken Similar characters of reference indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawing. Suitably secured to the floor I0 is the usual foundation frame or standard ll having a flat,

of the'garment I3 being pressed is supported so as to not drag on the floor during the pressing operation. The pressing is effected by laying said garment I3 upon the usual, and then moving the upper wardly by means of compressthe garme upper buckboards is hinged to the hinge pivot I1 while lower buckboard l4 buckboard l5 downits bar handle l6 so as to nt between said lower and l4, l5. Said upper buckboard frame II on the usual tubular the handle [6 is secured to the upper buckboard l5 by a pair of suitable brackets l9. The vbuckboards l4,

their opposing surfaces straight, as shown, one may be convex and mannner well known pressure between the I5 may have or the the other concave in the 'in the art. If a very heavy upper and lower buckboards be obtained in the the pressure pedal 18 which is automatically latched in its lowermostposition and may be unlatched by the usual unlatching pedal 20 The upper buckboard usual, steam heating is is provided with the chamber 2| which is connected in the usual and well'known manner to a suitable steam boiler (not shown) so as to be supplied with live steam and thereby be heated as long as the operator is using the machine. Excessive upward radiation and loss of heat from this heating chamber and well known manner, by covering is prevented, in theusual the top face of the upper buckboard IS with a sheet of insulating material 22 and then protecting the latterfrom physical harm lower buckboard I4 by a metal cover 23. The is provided with a similar,

steam chamber 24 which is-also connected, in

the usual and well known manner,

to the steam boiler, so as to be constantly steam heated as long as the machine is in operation.

The lower buckboard is preferably provided, in the usual manner, with a compartment 25. which is situated above and has the same area as the steam chamber 24.

preferably provided This compartment 25 is with the usual serpentine,

semi-partitions 26 (similar to those shown in Fig. 3), which supportthe intermediate portions of a perforated sheet metal plate or lower grid screen 21. Overlying said grid screen is the usual pad 28 constructed of some soft, resilient material, such as cotton, and over this pad (so as to protect the same from being soiled) is the usual, washable, lower buckboard covering sheet 30. The latter is held in place by extending down around the peripheral sides of the lower buckboard and being laced in place on the underside of said lower buckboard by the usual lacing cord 3|. Live steam may be admitted in the usual and well known manner into the compartment 25 by depressing the lower buckboard, live steam pedal 32, in which case said steam passes upwardly through grid screen 21, the pad 28, and the covering sheet 30 and against the lower face of the garment l3 being pressed, which, in this particular type of operation, is usually velvet (which is "steamed without using the upper buckboard). On the other hand, if the operator wishes to dry off the upper face of the covering sheet 36 of the lower buckboard I 4, or wishes to dry off the lower face of the garment l3 which is lying upon said lower buckboard, he presses the vacuum pedal 33 which, in the usual and well known manner, reduces the pressure in said compartment 25 to a point below atmospheric pressure, so that a current of air is caused to flow downwardly through the garment and through the sheet 30 andpad 28 into said compartment 25.

Arranged in the upper buckboard l5, below its heating chamber 2|, is a pair of upper, buckboard compartments 33, 33a separated by a central transverse partition 34 and having a combined area substantially identical with the area of the heating chamber 2|. These chambers constitute the vital feature of the present invention. Extending laterally and alternately inwardly into said compartments from their opposite sides as shown'in Fig. 3, are a plurality of semi-partitions 35 which divide said compartments into serpentine passageways 39, 39a.

Against the lower face of the main body of the upper buckboard l5 and also against the lower faces of its partition 34 and semi-partitions 35, is disposed a perforated, sheet metal plate or upper grid screen 36, which is suitably held in place in. any suitable manner, as for instance by a plurality of countersunk, flat head, machine screws 31. Arranged against the lower face of said grid screen 36 is, a wire screen 38 which-is held in place by the same machine screws 31 which hold the grid. screen 36 in place.

Arranged in the upper buckboard I5, adjacent its central partition 34, is a pair of steam inlet valves 49, 4311. which are similar to the single steam inlet valve which is customarily used in a machine of this character, 1. e. said inlet valves 40, 40a are connected through the hol1'ow,'hinge sleeve H with the usual steam boiler (not shown) and are of the so-called quick acting type,

each valve being closed by a suitable spring and opened by a flip of. its individual, actuating handle child. Steam from each of these valves 46, 40a is fed downwardly into its companion compartment 33,, 3311 against the usual deflecting baffle (not deemed necessary to be shown here),

which causes the steam to be deflected horizontal ly. The steam then travels horizontally through its companion serpentine passageway 35, 35a and through the grid screen 36 and wire screen 38' against'the upper face of the garment [3 being pressed. It is to be understood that this subjecting of the garment being pressed to the action of live steam is only momentary and does drained in the usual and well known manner.

The garment is then subjected to pressure by manually lowering the upper buckboard I5 by means of its handle I6. This causes the upper face of the garment E3 to be also heated because of the heating chamber 2! located in the upper buckboard l5. If a heavy pressure is desired, the operator depresses the pressure pedal [8 which, because of its leverage, provides the desired greater pressure and automatically latches itself in position. 1

While the garment is thus being subjected to pressure and while being heated at both its upper and lower faces, the operator may, if he desires, subject the garment to the direct action of live steam. We will assume, for the moment, that the operator is only pressing that portion of the garment 13 which is shown in the drawing as being compressed between the upper and lower buckboards l5 and M and we will also assume that the garment is of the usual type (woven wool or the like) which requires the action of live steam on its top face only. To thus subject the garment !3 to the action of live steam, the operator merely flips down the righthand, steam inlet handle Ma and then holds it in its depressed position as long as'he may deem desirable, which is usually only a very short interval of time. This action feeds live steam into the right-hand, steam compartment 33a,'from whence it travels down through the grid screen 36 and wire screen 38 into the upper face of the garment l3 being pressed. 7

While this injection of live steam into the upper face of the garment is taking place, it will be noted that no steam is going into, or escaping from the lower, porous face of, the left hand, steam compartment 33. This means that no steam is being used under these particular conditions at the left end of the machine and hence no steam wasted at this point. It is also obvious that no steam escapes from the left end of the machine into the room in which the pressing machine is located and also that'the upper face of the left end of the lower buckboard M is not subjected to live steam which would cause it to become moist or wet and hence would requir'e'being subsequently dried, and this drying would not ordinarily result in alower buckboard which was uniformly dry and which would give uniform pressing results.

This feature of the present invention is in di rect contrast to machines of this type as heretofore constructed in which only one steam compartment has been provided, said single compartment having the'sarne area as the upper buckboard; and supplied with steam from a single steam inlet valve.

To enable the pressing machine to handle garments of a great variety of shapes and sizes it is customary to have the right end of the buckboard of lesser Width than the width of the left end of the buckboard, as best seen in Fig. 3.

For this reason it is frequently desirable to press a garment or a portion of a garment at only the left end of the machine. In such case the operator lays the garment or the desired portion of the garment upon the left end of the lower buckboard l4, and pulls down the upper buckboard [5 as before, but, instead of flipping the right, steam inlet valve a, as before, in this case he flips down the left, steam inlet valve 40. This subjects the garment to the action of live steam without enabling any steam to be fed into and pass out of the right steam compartment 33a. 1

If the operator is pressing a garment which is so large that it extends over both sides of the partition 34 and if he wants the entire portion of the garment which is situated between the buckboards to be subjected to live steam, he may, of course, manually depress both of the valves 40, 40a. For this operation, however, the manipulation of a single handle is obviously preferable, and this is effected in the present invention by the provision of a dual lever 42. The latter is bifurcated at its rear end and may be pivoted at 43, 43a to the valves 40, 40a, as shown, while its front end is provided with a cross bar 44, the opposite ends of which are adapted to simultaneously bear downwardly on both of the steam inlet actuating handles 4|, did. This dual lever 42 may be resiliently retracted, similarly tothe valves 40, 40a if so desired, but this is not essential in that it may be effected by the resilient retraction of the valves themselves. It is, however, desirable to limit the retractive position of said dual lever, and this may be effected by a pair of stop arms 45 secured to the rear faces of the valves 40, 40a, as shown in Fig. 4.

When the operator is using the machine, the partition 34 is, of course, invisible, but it is desirable to have its location indicated in some manner so that the operator can easily gauge whether to flip down only one or other of the valve handles 4|, Ala or to flip down the dual lever 42. To enable the operator to easily see the location of said partition 34, the metal cover 23 may be laterally crimped at 46 on its upper face and may, in addition, be painted with a contrasting color so as to render it more readily visible. Similarly, the body of the upper buckboard l5 may be provided with a pair of vertical beads 41 on its opposite side faces or otherwise suitably marked. In addition to the foregoing,

the covering sheet 30 of the lower buckboard l4 may be provided on its vertical side faces with a single or multiple printed line 48 shown, or otherwise suitably marked to locate the position of the partition 34. This triple line 48 may be extended, if desired, across the top, flat face of the covering sheet 38, but it is to be understood that the operator does not need to know, within very close limits, where the transverse partition 34 is located, and that an approximate idea of its location is, in actual practice, quite sufficient, because of the fact that when one end only of the machine is being used, it is usually only its more or less extreme end which is employed. Because of this fact it would, for many types of service, be

theoretically better to have the steam compartments 33, 33a located at the extreme ends of the upper buckboard it, with the intermediate portion constituting a central compartment which is supplied by steam from a third steam inlet valve actuated by the dual lever 42. Such a refinement of the invention is, however, not deemed to be of commercial value.

While the present patent application only discloses a dual or other multiple compartment arrangement in the upper buckboard [5 from whence live steam may be passed directly into the top face of the garment l3 being pressed, it is obvious that this same principle could, if desired, be incorporated into the lower buckboard l4, and still be within the scope of the-present invention.

I claim as my invention:

A clothes pressing machine comprising a lower buckboard having a single screened compartment extending the full length of this board, an upper buck board having two screened compartments which are arranged side by side and which oppose the single screened compartment of the lower buck board, two separate valves for controlling the admission of steam individually into the respective compartments of said upper buck board, separate auxiliary means for operating said valves independently of each other and each of these auxiliary means including an auxiliary hand lever, and a main hand lever arranged between said auxiliary levers and having laterally projecting arms adapted to simultaneously engage both of said auxiliary hand levers for opening both of ISAAC BURNSTEIN. 

